What Does a Real Estate Virtual Assistant Do?

In recent years, real estate agents - feeling the time crunch from selling a lot of properties - have turned to outsourcing much of their administrative work to virtual assistants.

For time-blocking focused people like our co-founder and chairman Gary Keller, the real estate virtual assistant method presents a unique model that, when done right, can get similar results as the traditional transaction or marketing coordinator model.

Recently, Keller sat down with Daniel Ramsey, owner of MyOutDesk (myoutdesk.com), a provider of real estate virtual assistants and a KW Approved Vendor, to answer the question: what exactly does a real estate virtual assistant do?

Here is their conversation.

Gary Keller:Hey, Daniel. Thanks for joining me today. Let’s get this rolling. Give me the short one-to two-minute explanation, from your point of view, of a virtual assistant.

Daniel Ramsey: Several years ago, I was at a conference, and I remember someone saying that if you’re doing your own paperwork, you’re an assistant. What they were basically saying is that you’re worth what your assistant gets paid – that varies throughout the country – but what you’re saying is, “I’m worth 10 bucks an hour.”

The point I’m driving at is there are a lot of really, really good real estate agents generating business. But once it gets in the door, they need help. That’s where a virtual assistant comes in. In my opinion, there are three areas where a virtual assistant can really be impactful to a real estate agent and their office. The first is the administrative side of the business, which looks a lot like a transaction coordinator. They’re putting information into the MLS, taking care of the paperwork and the contract-to-close duties. What’s cool about this part is that you can also use them on the personal admin side. So, for instance, my wife’s birthday is coming up this Wednesday. She wants to go to a comedy show in our favorite restaurant downtown. And so, I sent over a link to my virtual assistant and said, “Buy six tickets and make reservations at this restaurant.”

Keller:What’s the second area of business?

Ramsey: So the second one – which we all need – is the marketing side. That’s like social media, 33 Touches, videos, fliers – the stuff that drives business to you. There’s a lot of repetitive work that goes into creating that online marketing machine, which is where a virtual assistant can help.

Keller:You use the phrase “repetitive work.” How significant is that in the way we view the best use of a virtual assistant?

Ramsey: Whenever you have an hourly employee who isn’t paid on commission, they are creating a machine that you can depend on. The virtual assistant’s strength is taking a program that they’ve created and then running with it. They shine when they are able to help with systematic and repetitive programs.

Keller: And the third area?

Ramsey: The third is the sales support side. Making calls and talking to clients is such an important part of what we do. What’s interesting is that about three years ago, the National Association of REALTORS® put out a statistic which stated that 80 percent of all sales are made between the fifth and the 12th contact. Most agents are really good at making two or three contacts to someone. But what if they’re not ready to buy today or sell tomorrow? Unless they’re set up in a system that constantly calls and keeps in touch, you’re likely not going to get the sale.

If you talk with them over six months, create rapport, develop a relationship and show them value, they feel like they’re important and cared for. That situation is most likely going to result in a sale. The difficult part for a real estate agent is doing all those follow-up calls, which keep the deal from falling apart. We’ve created a “lead coordinator” position or what we like to call an “ISA” or Inside Sales Agent to do that for you.

Keller:So let me switch gears here. What’s the biggest mistake that an agent makes when they hire a virtual assistant?

Ramsey: When you look at the overall leverage piece, what we’re really talking about is your “Leads, Listings and Leverage” triangle from The Millionaire Real Estate Agent. The biggest mistake I see agents make is to assume that leverage is not as important as the other sides.

Keller: You just explained keys to the kingdom. That’s the step that every real estate agent has to ask themselves. “Am I ready to make a hire?” Because, the problem is that when you decide to generate leads for leverage, and you decide to master that, you’ve now agreed to do two things: You’ve agreed to be a real estate agent and a businessperson. And that is like having two masters and taking on two roles. You’re saying, “I’m not only gonna be the quarterback, but I’m also going to be the defense and the tight end.” And usually people don’t even realize that that’s the issue staring at them. They just don’t get it. They just think “hiring is easy” or “it’s a no-brainer.” And I always chuckle when people come back, after trying to do it for six months to a year and go, “Wow, it’s a lot harder than I thought it was. It’s hard to find good people and it’s hard to work with people.”

Ramsey: Absolutely.There’s a whole side to finding the right person. And once you find the right people, you have to keep them in the game and accountable to what they need to be doing. This applies to virtual assistants too. We have agents call us and think that we are the “silver bullet.” One of the services we’re now providing is an over-the-phone consultation with a licensed and experienced agent who does two things. They answer the housekeeping questions – what time does a virtual assistant work – and then they dive into their office and find how the agent is running their business. We then identify talent versus non-talent and look for the holes within their company. Without this piece the virtual assistant doesn’t typically work. You have to set expectations, create a job description and have a ramp-up period of three to four months for the person to be 100 percent comfortable when they come into a new job. And at the end of the day An agent still has to lead the team and be the coach.

Keller:What are you going to pay for a virtual assistant?

Ramsey: Great question. Our base is $6.70 and $9.60 is our high-end executive person. The reason that’s our price is because we wanted to be able to offer high-quality people and give them an option they don’t currently have in their country. We pay our virtual assistants two times the standard income, we give them health care and we give them vacation time. We also do two conferences a year, which is more incentive to stay with their clients for a long period of time. Because let’s face it – turnover is the enemy of leverage.

Keller: Last question. If I’m thinking about getting a virtual assistant, what’s the key to get started?

Ramsey: Gary, it goes back to setting expectations on the front end. Having a detailed job description after the initial coaching call, creating an office manual, setting up quarterly goals and getting a mindset that you are a businessperson and not just a sales person. We ask for the DISC profile of everyone on the team to understand how they interact. We also want to set expectations about what you expect to accomplish. For instance, in month one, you expect them to have reached 25 percent of the goal, month two is 50 percent, month three is 75 percent and, by the end of the quarter, they should be performing 100 percent of the job goals.

Keller:Awesome. Ramsey, this has been fun talking about myoutdesk.com, thanks a lot.

Ramsey: Thank you!

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Sandra M Gibides

Are they Licensed Realtors?

Mattie Frascella

So your virtual assistants are not in the country??

adminkwblog

myoutdesk hires many virtual assistants in the Philippines. You can visit their Website to learn more: http://myoutdesk.com/

Jeff Kayle

Leverage is one of the best things that I've learned from the MREA book, yet when it comes to outsourcing jobs, I will never agree with this practice. There are many qualified young people right here in the US and Canada. Hire your kids, or the children of another realtor.

Sandra M Gibides

I started this conversation because I fully agree with you Jeff. I emailed the company above the same question and got no response.

Jeff Kayle

Just go to their website and use the chat module. I asked them if they had any domestic workers and they replied that their entire workforce was outside of the U.S. On most issues, I can sit back and remain silent, yet when it comes to the outsourcing of American jobs, I will take a stand.

While using cheap labor will help you own bottom line, it is short sighted and damaging to the US economy. Our country is still recovering from one of the worst times since the Great Depression, so we all need to pitch in and do our part.

JFK said it best when he said "Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country."

john nelson

You make a great point - why pay someone outside the US when we can hire someone IN the U.S. to help with our businesses as well. Really should look at building a similar firm here in the United States that has VA services.

Of course I see the value in having a Virtual Assistant to do a lot of the jobs and tasks that take us away from Lead Generation but maybe we can look at some firms locally who do the same -

N'Marie Crumbie

Really!? So why don't you tell the foreigners that invest in real estate in the US not to do so because they should be supporting the real estate industry in their own country. The problem I see here is that some people are not thinking on a global scale. These VA could one day become a real estate investors in the US, expand your thinking people and view the potential big picture on a global scale.

Angela Jones

There are some Real Estate
Virtual Assistants/Real Estate Virtual Administrative Professionals that are
licensed. I am licensed in the state of
NY, but I am not an active agent.

Sandra M Gibides

In AZ where I live a licensed assistant/TM can not work for an agent employed under another broker.

Angela Jones

Hi Sandra, in New York
so long as there is Broker permission an employee or licensed individual can do
work for another Broker; but for my company I am a Real Estate Virtual
Assistant with a Brokers’ License. There
are other Virtual Assistants out there that hold a Real Estate License in New
York, as well as other states.

I am not sure
of the real estate law in the other states, but the few Virtual Assistants that
I have come across have made it known that they hold a Real Estate License.

It always gets a little dicey when you have people with the same and most of the time better skill set competing with American workers at about 25% of the cost. You are free to hire your kid as you suggested, the beauty of this is freedom of choice. But most of the time what hiring a foreign VA does is free up a team-less realtor to actually go home at 5 to have dinner with their family instead of writing blog posts or updating CRMS. This liberates most of us that can't afford an American VA but CAN afford a foreign lower cost one. Its almost never a question of hiring one instead of the other. We got on a roll with them and have actually expanded our overseas VAs roles to about 80% of our business now! We do have an American bookkeeper on our team too. Basically they do everything that doesn't require a license. There is a learning curve primarily to get all in the cloud, but once that is set up, the sky is the limit on the non-licensed tasks that they can do.. We are a Florida brokerage but we are starting to share all of our procedures that we use VAs for at automatedrealtor.net hopefully it will help VA use become more mainstream and illustrate the value of services like myoutdesk.com.

Hilary Lockhart

Those were such great points. I normally dont ever respond to comments, or get involved. So many have their beliefs on whether they think we should send our jobs oversees, versus keep the jobs here in the United States. My theory is the same: It boils down to FREEDOM, and that is my freedom to hire whomever I choose. The next best point I can come up with is: WAKE UP - we all come from the same place, we are all ONE - stop segregating people. If hiring someone at a rate I can afford means hiring out of the country to start; at least someone is putting food on their table. Soon that agent will be able to keep her out of country VA and start paying them way more than they will ever make in their country. I feel like I am helping another human being out and it doesnt matter that they are in another country.
If people don't like this, maybe people should change minimum wage laws! I would love to hire someone at an amount I felt they were WORTH and not what the government REQUIRES. An employee always has the FREEDOM to decline the job. As long as we have minimum wage laws - people will be hiring oversees. Change the laws, and you will keep more money on American jobs. However, don't take away my freedom to hire someone in another country - that is just dumb. We are a country built on giving FREEDOM - not taking it away.

It always gets a little dicey when you have people with the same and most of the time better skill set competing with American workers at about 25% of the cost. You are free to hire your kid as you suggested, the beauty of this is freedom of choice. But most of the time what hiring a foreign VA does is free up a team-less realtor to actually go home at 5 to have dinner with their family instead of writing blog posts or updating CRMS. This liberates most of us that can't afford an American VA but CAN afford a foreign lower cost one. Its almost never a question of hiring one instead of the other. We got on a roll with them and have actually expanded our overseas VAs roles to about 80% of our business now! We do have an American bookkeeper on our team too. Basically they do everything that doesn't require a license. There is a learning curve primarily to get all in the cloud, but once that is set up, the sky is the limit on the non-licensed tasks that they can do.. We are a Florida brokerage but we are starting to share all of our procedures that we use VAs for at automatedrealtor.net hopefully it will help VA use become more mainstream and illustrate the value of services like myoutdesk.com.

Hello Realtors, I am a Professional Real Estate Assistant. Contact me if interested.

Henry Carmona

Really? Back at you Marie. Try using that explanation to those currently looking for a job here in the US. While those VA's "might" become real estate investors in the US. Why would you not try to help the people in your own Country first? Your own State, or city?

I live in Weirsdale, FL but have been working from home virtually as a Real Estate Assistant since 2007. I have strong REO experience, Short Sales, Rental & Traditional Listing and Transaction Coordination and handling a property from assignment to close.
I have worked with agents in various states and am familiar with various MLS portals. I am available from Mon-Fri 9am - 6pm with some availability in the evening and occasional weekend. Very reliable, strong follow up skills, hard working treating your business as if it were my own.
Please feel free to contact me anytime. I can provide a resume & references of my virtual work anytime.
Thank you!
Alexis Hawkins
ahawkins3 - Skype
516-725-3190
alexishawkinspreva@gmail.com

Hi Alexis,
Are you familiar with the state of Louisiana? I am looking for someone to handle marketing, leads, social media, as well as listings & transaction coordination.

Belinda Dabandan

Hi,
I am interested to apply as a Virtual Assistant. I used to work as an ISA for a team in Oregon. I dialed cold and new expired leads for over a year. I am located in the Philippines.
my email is belladabandan@gmail.com
please send me an email if anyone is looking to hire a VA. I'll be more than happy to send my CV and DISC profile.

Dan

There are a lot of services that provide virtual assistants. I wrote a post about this very subject :)
http://blog.prialto.com/virtual-assistant-services-for-real-estate

Hi Alexis,
Are you familiar with the state of Louisiana? I am looking for someone to handle marketing, leads, social media, as well as listings & transaction coordination.

Krystal R.

Hi, I would love to know more about becoming a Virtual Real Estate Assistant. I am currently working on my realtor license here in Texas and would love to get started on some at home work. If anyone could help steer me I would appreciate it!
krystaldianereid@yahoo.com TIA!

Thanks for sharing great information about real estate virtual assistant . It's Really helpful us so please keep it up continue.....

vesta wright

Hi,
I need a Real-Estate assistant who are experienced with buyers and sellers CA. Contracts . That's all you have to do for me. I have most of every thing else covered for now. could change later. Reply ASAP.

I couldn't survive a month without my 2 virtual assistants. they are from the Philippines, and have saved me so many headaches! If you have doubts, all I can say is give it a shot! You can also save money by by-passing the middle man and hire them directly. I personally used http://www.virtualassistants.ph to find mine. Good luck!